Fallen Angel
by lilmisblack
Summary: Like a fallen angel he had returned to her life. Neither knew how or why, but it was up to her to solve the mystery, to save him and herself...without losing her heart in the process.
1. Protective Spells

"Harry, Ron! You're back!" Hermione yelled, as she ran into the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, startling everyone into silence. With a broad smile, Harry got up from his chair, almost falling back again when she crashed into him, hugging him tightly. Her eyes fell on Ron then, who was standing by them, and hugged him just as tightly, although a little more awkwardly. "I'm so glad you're finally back," she said, stepping away from them just enough to make sure they had both come back in one piece.

"You can talk while you eat," Mrs Weasley interrupted, pushing a plate in front of Hermione. She sat down, but didn't touch the food; she was too excited to eat.

"Where have you been? We haven't heard from you in weeks."

"Yeah, well, we ran into a bit of trouble," Harry said, with a shrug.

"Trouble? What happened? Why didn't you call for help?"

He looked at her for a moment, uncertain, then turned to Ron, who was busy stuffing food into his mouth and only shrugged.

"What's going on?" she asked, suspiciously.

They both looked at her again, then turned to Ginny, who had walked in after her and was sitting in front of them, and then to the twins. They turned to Mrs Weasley last, who had suddenly stopped moving about the kitchen, her attention completely focused on them.

Ron and Harry had been away most of the summer, in search of the Horcruxes. She was supposed to go with them, but just a few days before they left her father had gotten sick. When it became apparent that Muggle doctors could do nothing for him, she had tried to get a healer to see him. The problem was, St Mungo's didn't normally take Muggle patients.

The Horcrux hunt couldn't wait, so they'd decided the boys would leave without her, and as soon as things were settled she would join them. It had taken her two months to get a healer to see her father.

What Muggle doctors hadn't been able to do in months, the healer had done in just a few days, but by the time her father was healed they had stopped receiving news from Ron and Harry.

"Harry? What is it?" she insisted, when they didn't answer.

"Nothing important," he said, busying himself with the food as he spoke. "Maybe it's better if we wait for the rest of the Order, so we'll only have to tell the story once."

"Just tell us what happened, boys," Mrs Weasley said. "We have been so worried about you, all this time with no news."

"Nothing bad happened, Mum, but it's a long story; we'd rather only go through it once."

Mrs Weasley hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I'll contact the Order to schedule a meeting for today."

"I'm sure you're tired," Hermione said, as Mrs Weasley left the kitchen. "Why don't you two go upstairs and get some rest?" she suggested, giving Ron and Harry a meaningful look.

"Well, actually," Ron started, reaching for another toast, "we're not really all that ti…"

"I'll help you carry your things up the stairs," she interrupted, getting up and grabbing one of the bags they had left by the door before heading out of the kitchen. She felt something strange as she walked past the doorway, a strange prickle of warm energy against her skin, but the next second it had passed. Shaking her head, she continued down the hallway and towards the stairs. It took Harry and Ron a few minutes, but finally they joined her in their bedroom.

"Okay, spill it," she said, as soon as they stepped through the doorway.

"You know, now that I think about it, I do feel kind of tired. Maybe we can talk about this after we-"

"Ronald Weasley, I haven't had any news in weeks. We had no idea where you where, where to start looking for you. We didn't know if something had happened, if you had been captured, killed. We have been going crazy with worry, I've spent the last weeks going through every book in the house, trying to find a tracking charm powerful enough to find you, so don't tell me you're too tired to talk. Sit down and tell me what happened, or I swear I'll curse the truth out of you. Out of the two of you," she added, looking at Harry. Both boys gulped visibly.

"We didn't mean to scare you, or make anyone worry; we just couldn't contact anyone," Harry said, as he sat on the bed beside her.

"Why is that?"

"Well," Ron said, "we couldn't use magic."

"Why not? Was someone tracking you? I've told you there are ways to-"

"No," Harry interrupted. "No one was tracking us. We couldn't do any magic."

"You couldn't do magic? What do you mean?"

"We're not sure what happened, it was like we'd turned into Muggles all of a sudden."

"Wards that prevent all kind of magic are extremely rare."

"Wards didn't do it," Harry said. "We hadn't gone anywhere when it happened."

"Well, there are some ancient curses that could take someone's power," she said, thinking hard, "but I've never read of anything that will take all kind of magical ability from the victim."

"We couldn't think of anything, either. We tried to get to a healer, thinking maybe they'd know what was happening to us, but we couldn't get into the wizarding hospital in Dublin without using magic."

"What were you doing in Dublin?"

"We were following a lead," Ron explained. "So, since we couldn't get in touch with the magical community, and we couldn't come back here either, because we didn't have enough Muggle money for the trip, we decided to try something else."

"Try what?" she asked, suspiciously.

"We went to see a witch. Well, what Muggles call a witch, actually."

"I'd heard my aunt talk about them once. A friend of hers was going to one, trying to get her soul _cleansed_ or something like that," Harry said.

"How did you find one?"

"We just searched for them in Muggle newspapers. You'd be surprised by the things you can find in them. The first two we went to were fakes, you just had to see the way they were dressed to know that."

"But the third one seemed to know what she was talking about. She was probably a Squib or something."

"So what did she tell you?"

"She said our _energy_ was being drained by something, but that there was no need to worry, it would pass. She also said we had a strange aura around us, something protecting us."

"She was right," Ron said. "It took almost another full week, but one morning our magic was back, same as it ever was."

"It came back, just like that?"

"Yep," he said, leaning back against the headboard. "Not only that, but it brought along more luck than we'd had the whole trip."

"What do you mean?"

"The day we got our magic back we went back to the wizarding part of the city to send a message to the Order, let you all know we were all right, and as we were walking down the street I got the sudden feeling that I needed to go into an antique shop we'd just walked by. It was really strange, I just turned around in the middle of the street and started walking towards the shop, as if there were strings pulling me to it."

"So I go inside right after him," Ron continued, with a broad smile, "and as we're waiting I see the clerk reach for this strange looking box on a high shelf. Just as he was grabbing it his sleeve rolled down, and I got a glimpse of a Dark Mark on his forearm."

"A Death Eater?" she asked, surprised, and they both nodded. "Didn't he recognize you?" she asked Harry, and he smirked.

"That morning, before leaving the hotel we were staying at, I looked at myself in the mirror and got the feeling I should do something about the scar, so I used a Glamour Charm to hide it."

"It almost sounds like too much luck," she said, suspiciously.

"That's not even the best of it," Ron said. "That night we waited until the shop was closed and went inside."

"You did what?!"

"Well, I had the feeling that there was something important in there," Harry said with a shrug.

"Once inside, it took Harry less than five minutes to find just what we were looking for. A Horcrux."

"What? He just had it lying there?"

"Oh, no," Ron said, laughing. "Trust me, it was well hidden and protected. If Harry hadn't had a _feeling_ of where to look, we never would have found it. It was as if he'd taken a full bottle of Felix Felicis."

"And you haven't, right?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Of course not!"

"Well, good luck doesn't just come like that," she said, getting up and turning to face them.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, when she reached for her wand and aimed it at them.

"I'm going to check the two of you for spells. Things like that don't just happen."

"We've already checked for spells."

"Good, that will save us some time," she said, skipping the most basic spells and moving straight to the more powerful ones. She searched for any and every kind of magic, good or bad, as they looked at her, the expression on their faces telling her they didn't think there was anything to be found. It took her almost fifteen minutes to find what the Muggle witch had sensed. There was some strange kind of magic around them. Not the two of them actually; the magic seemed to be centred on Harry, but it was powerful enough to touch those around him.

She focused on the magic surrounding him like a wall, and tried to weaken it, to break through it. Whatever it was, it was not Harry's magic; it was something else, and it could be dangerous.

She was so focused on getting through the strange magic that she didn't notice Harry had fallen back against the bed until she heard Ron say, "Harry, are you all right?" Then something crashed into her so hard she stumbled back, lowering her wand.

"What was that?" she asked, almost to herself. Whatever had crashed into her, it had felt like strong, warm energy, like touching a ghost, only warm instead of cold. It was the same thing she had felt in the kitchen.

"What did you do to him?" Ron asked worriedly, as she walked closer to the bed. Harry was lying on his back, his face pale and his eyes unfocused. His mouth opened wide as he gasped for breath.

"I didn't do anything," she sad, kneeling by Harry. "I was just trying to- Did you feel that?" she asked. She had felt the warm energy again when she reached for Harry. Whatever it was, it seemed to be hovering over him. She was about to reach for her wand again when she saw Harry's eyes were focused, his breathing slowing down. Whatever was there, it seemed to be helping him.

"Ron, give me your hand."

"What?"

"Just-" she started, then reached for his arm and pulled it to her, right through the warm energy. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"That…warmth, in the air."

"I don't feel anything. What's going on?"

"I don't know."

"What did you do?" Harry asked in a soft voice, as he sat up.

"There was something around you, some kind of magic, and I just tried to break through it. I thought it was something bad, but now I think the woman you talked to in Dublin, the witch, had been right. The energy is like some kind of protection. I need to know what it is."

"Well, you aren't playing with it again, look what you did to Harry!"

"Something must have happened to you to cause this," she said, sitting next to Harry. "From what you said, that Muggle witch sensed the protection before you got your magic back, so maybe it's related to why you lost it in the first place."

"What does it matter how it happened, if it's good?" Harry asked.

"Because it's still magic, and we know nothing about it. It could be affecting you in ways we don't know yet. What happened before you lost your magic?"

"We were at the hotel, and we-" Harry hesitated and turned to Ron with a frown. "It's a little fuzzy, I don't remember exactly."

"I remember bits and pieces," Ron said, with the same confused expression. "We were having dinner, and I said something about... some books, I think."

"Yes, I remember opening a book. There was a spell, a protection spell of some kind."

"You cast a protection spell you knew nothing about?"

"Mmm, maybe?" Ron said, sounding embarrassed.

"There are some books in the blue bag. It had to be one of those."

She reached for the bag and opened it. There were seven books inside. She took a moment to pull them out and lay them on the bed; she knew four of the books, so she put them back inside the bag and focused on the other three.

They were old books, and just one look at them told her they were also rare. One of them was written in a language she couldn't decipher, so that ruled it out. The spell had to be in one of the two left.

She moved the books closer to her, one right next to the other, and then aimed her wand at them. A quick spell showed her which book they had used, another opened it on the right page.

"This is very powerful magic," she said, as she read. "I've never seen anything like this." She turned to the next page and gasped. "You cast a spell that needed blood? Do you have any idea how dangerous that kind of magic is?"

"Why dangerous? It was just a tiny drop," Ron said, but she ignored him. She was too busy reading about the spell. There was very little information on the spell itself, on how it worked or the possible consequences. From what she could see, the spell didn't work like most protection magic did. This one invoked some kind of entity that was in charge of the protection, and linked to the witch or wizard that cast the spell.

"Do you have any idea how many things could have gone wrong with…" she started, but Mrs Weasley's voice calling Ron and Harry interrupted her. Some of the Order members had arrived, and they wanted to talk to the boys. They seemed to think it was the perfect opportunity to get away from her.

"We'll talk about it later," Ron said, as he walked out of the bedroom.

"Are you coming?" Harry asked, as he got up.

"I want to go over this spell again. I'll join you in a few."

"All right, hurry," he said, as he started after Ron, but before he left the room she cast the most powerful wards she knew, setting them to only let Harry through. If she was right, whatever entity that was protecting Harry should be trapped in the room with her. She hoped keeping it inside wouldn't affect Harry the way trying to break through the magic had, but if it did he was close enough that she would find out fast and drop the wards to let it out.

She waited for a few seconds, but there were no screams for help, or gasps for breath. It seemed Harry was all right.

"Okay, let's do this," she muttered to herself, as she got up and closed the door.

She stood with her back to the door and took a deep breath, then lifted her wand and cast the most powerful revealing spell she could think of. She hoped it would be enough.

For a few seconds nothing happened, but then she saw a blur move towards her. It was barely visible at first, but slowly it took shape.

The outline was visible first, a man's shape. As it moved closer to her the image started to get clear; he looked strangely familiar.

The figure tilted its head to the side as he looked at her, seeming as surprised at her seeing him as she was. He took another step closer and the lines smoothed, and she could finally see the man clearly. She blinked, unable to believe what she was seeing, who she was seeing. It was impossible, it couldn't be him.

She couldn't possibly be standing in front of Sirius Black.


	2. Just Energy

"You can see me," Sirius said, after a few moments of stunned silence. He seemed as surprised as she felt, but he was recovering faster. "You can close your mouth now, unless you intend to catch a fly with it."

"I…uhm…" she stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. What the hell was going on?

"Why can you see me?" he asked, with a puzzled expression she had never seen on his face before. "No one else can."

"I don't…I'm not sure. It must have been the spell."

She took a small step forward, tilting her head to the side and narrowing her eyes. He looked real, solid. In fact, he looked just like she remembered him. But he had just appeared in front of her; he hadn't been there moments before, had he?

"How did you-" she started, but then the door behind her opened suddenly, hitting her on the back and making her stumble a few feet forward.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Hermione. Are you all right?" Ron asked, stepping into the room.

"I…yes, it…" she mumbled, frowning. Ron had stepped into the room and walked to the far end, where he was rummaging inside one of the backpacks for something. He had walked right past Sirius, as if he wasn't there. "Ron, can't you-"

"He can't see me," Sirius said calmly, before she could finish the question.

"Why?" she asked him.

"Why what?" Ron asked, still focused on the backpack. "Oh, here it is!" he said, pulling out a box, and then turning around to face her again. "Are you sure you're all right? You look a little pale."

"Yes, I'm fine," she told him, forcing a small smile to her lips, then she added in a whisper, "Just think I'm going crazy."

"You're not going crazy," Sirius replied, taking one last step towards her. "I'm real, see?" he said with a wink, reaching for her hand. The second his fingers reached hers she felt that strange warm energy again, but nothing else.

"I can't feel your hand, your skin," she whispered, her eyes locked on his fingers.

"You're feeling all there is to feel," he said. "Energy."

"You're just energy?"

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked, stepping right in front of her, so that Sirius' arm was sticking out of his chest.

"He can't feel me," Sirius said, before she could ask, moving his arm up and down a bit, as if to prove his point. "No one else can."

"Then why me?"

"Why you what?" Ron asked her, looking confused.

She forced herself to look away from Sirius and focused on Ron.

"I'm sorry. I'm fine, just a little tired."

"Why don't you come downstairs with the rest? Most of the Order's here already, Harry's telling them about the trip."

"I…sure, let's go," she said, waving her wand and lowering the wards before Ron could notice they were there. Ron looked at her for a second, as if not sure she was really all right, but he finally shrugged and walked out of the room.

"Are you coming?" she asked Sirius, before following Ron out.

She stepped into the library after Ron, doing her best to smile at everyone as she looked for an empty seat. She had expected to find more people there, but apparently only those closest to them had been called.

She made her way to the far end of the room as Harry spoke, sitting by the window, next to Mrs Weasley. She tried to focus on what Harry was saying, but then Sirius walked into the room, and her attention immediately went to him. He smiled at her as he moved, walking right through Fred and then Bill before settling behind Harry. She looked at every person in the room in turn; no one seemed to have noticed the wizard they all thought dead standing right there.

"They can't see me, either," Sirius said, his voice easily carrying over Harry's. "Or feel me," he added, as he walked away from Harry, walking right through Professor McGonagall and then Kingsley as he got closer to her.

She wanted to ask him what was going on, but if anyone heard her they'd think she was going crazy. Could Sirius perhaps read her mind? She looked right into his eyes and concentrated on the question, but he just smiled at her, looking slightly puzzled. Damn.

"You can't read my mind, can you?" she whispered, frustrated.

"Why? Are you thinking something you'd want me to know about?" he asked her, with a devilish grin she'd seen him use a time or two. Not that she'd been paying attention, of course. Great, now she was blushing, too.

She saw the grin on his face broaden, and she turned away from him without a word, focusing on Harry.

"…our second day in Belgrade. We had gone to a Muggle shopping mall to watch a movie."

"A movie?" Mr Weasley interrupted, excitedly.

"Yes," Ron said. "We were walking through the crowd when I saw a Muggle woman walk right by us, wearing the locket."

"A Muggle wearing Salazar Slytherin's locket?" Mad-Eye asked.

"Yes. We discovered later on that the locket was some kind of Riddle family heirloom," Harry said. "Or family curse, more like. Voldemort had cursed it before giving it to what was left of his Muggle family, although they didn't know it was cursed."

"We couldn't use magic on her in the mall, so we followed her back home and switched the locket for the one we had without her noticing," Ron said.

"Oh, isn't that a lovely story?" Sirius said, with a smirk, leaning back against the window. When she frowned at him in confusion he told her in a fake whisper. "The truth is, Ron tried to approach the woman when she was in the mall. He grabbed her sleeve trying to catch her attention, and the woman turned around and punched him square on the nose, probably thinking he was some sort of pickpocket. Just one good punch and the boy fell on his arse. Before he even knew what was happening, a security guard was there, and the woman started yelling he had tried to take her bag. The poor boy looked from one to the other, blushed so hard he looked like his face was on fire, and then bounced to his feet and made a run for it, with the guard running after him. He ran for at least five minutes before he found a place hidden enough to Apparate away. Real suave, he was."

She tried to stifle the chuckle bubbling from her chest, but it was impossible; just the thought of Ron being punched like that by a Muggle woman and then running from the guards was hilarious, especially after having heard Ron's uneventful version of the encounter. She covered her mouth with her hands to drown the sound of her laughter, but there was no hiding her shaking shoulders or teary eyes.

"Hermione?" someone asked, and she looked up to see everyone turned to her, looking at her as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Perhaps it was because Ron's version of the story wasn't quite as funny as Sirius'.

"I'm sorry," she said, trying to keep her face straight. "I just remembered something funny." She knew she was blushing again, but she ignored that fact, along with Sirius' bark of laughter at her reaction, and focused on Ron and Harry once more.

They all stayed silent for a few moments, still looking at her, but then, thankfully, Kingsley spoke.

"So you managed to destroy the Horcruxes?"

Well, it seemed she had missed a part of the story; she'd have to ask the boys about it later on.

"Yes," Harry replied, and everyone else finally turned back to him. "We destroyed the two we found, which means that, if Dumbledore was right, there should only be two more left."

"Do you know where they are hidden?"

"Not yet, but we will find them and destroy them. What matters the most right now is that the Order has to be ready. When the last Horcrux is destroyed, it will be time to fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

A collective shiver ran through the room at the mention of the wizard's name, but no one said anything.

"We have to find a way to track that last Horcruxes," Moody said, after a few moments. "Magic so dark always leaves a trace, we only need to find a way to follow it."

"I believe there are some books on Horcruxes in the Department of Mysteries. We could have used them before, if you had told us what you were searching for. I know an Unspeakable who is supportive to our cause; he might be able to get that information for us."

"Professor Dumbledore wanted me to search them for myself; he didn't want me to tell the Order."

"What's done is done, and I am sure Albus had his reasons for asking you to keep this from us," McGonagall said. "Now that we know, we have more important things to worry about than why he asked that of you, such as finding those Horcruxes and readying ourselves for a battle."

"We should arrange a meeting soon, with every Order member this time, and see where we stand and what needs to be done," Kingsley said, and everyone agreed.

Conversation quickly drifted to other subjects, and after a few minutes the Order members that weren't staying for lunch said their goodbyes and left headquarters.

"Fancy a quick Quidditch match before lunch?" Fred asked, stretching on the couch.

"You bet. Haven't played in months," Harry said, and Ron nodded in agreement.

"How about you, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"You know I don't like flying. Besides, I need to do some research. I'd like to know more about those books you showed me," she told Harry and Ron.

"But there's only five of us, Hermione, you have to play."

"I think I'll stay, then," Ron said. "I could help you with the research."

"You? Research?" she asked, and heard Sirius laugh at Ron's outraged expression.

"You're right," Harry said, trying not to smile. "But the least we can do is help you with those books. We brought them here, after all."

"There's no need to help, and I work better by myself. Just go have fun, and if you need another player, Bill's in the kitchen, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, now go," she said, and they didn't need to be told twice. Harry and Ron had only been back for a few hours, and already she missed the calm of the previous days.

"You'd really rather do research than play Quidditch?" Sirius asked, as the others left. He sounded almost surprised.

"You know me, Bookworm-Hermione. All work and no fun, remember?" she said with a shrug, and he frowned, looking confused. "Aren't you going with them?"

"I think I'd rather stay here and help you," he said, sitting next to her, close enough for her to feel his energy prickling on her skin.

"I never pictured you for one willing to choose books over fun." He looked positively confused at her words, now.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"Well, I don't mean to say you aren't smart or anything," she said quickly, wondering if that was what he'd made out of her words, "but from what I heard, you were always ready to pass studying in favour of…well, fun of any kind."

"Why do you talk like that?"

"Talk like what?" she asked. This conversation was getting stranger by the second.

"Why do you talk like you know me?"

"I…" She hesitated, not sure what to say. "I know we were never close, Sirius, I didn't mean to upset you or anything," she said, not sure exactly what she was apologizing for, or why. "I guess that's just the impression you gave, and from what everyone says about you I…"

"What did you call me?" he suddenly interrupted, standing up quickly and turning to her, his expression unreadable.

Well, what had she said now?

"I'm sorry, Sirius, I'm not sure what you mean," she said, standing up as well and moving in front of him. He was beginning to worry her.

"Sirius. You called me that before. Why?" he asked, and she frowned at his question.

"That's your name."

His eyes widened for a moment, and he took a step closer to her. He reached for her, seemingly not remembering he couldn't touch her, and she shivered at the sudden feel of his warm energy going through her. His eyes met hers, and there was an intensity in them like she had never seen before; it was as if his entire attention was focused solely on her, and nothing else mattered.

"Sirius, what's going on?" she asked, worry quickly turning into confusion, and then fear, not of him, but for him. He looked so lost, so desperate.

"From the moment you saw me earlier you acted as if you knew me," he said softly. "I didn't think much of it at first, thought you were shocked at seeing someone no one else could. But now I just…"

"What are you talking about?"

When he spoke again, his voice was barely a whisper, confusion and a shadow of hope clear on his face.

"Do you know me?" he asked. "Do you know who I am?"


	3. Sirius Black

"I…I don't understand," Hermione said, three words that rarely left her lips.

"You know me, don't you? Tell me who I am."

"How can you not know who you are?"

He sighed in exasperation, running his hand through his hair before speaking again. "If I knew I wouldn't be asking you."

"I…I'm not sure I'm the right person to talk to, Sirius. Perhaps you should find someone else to ask, someone who knew you better."

"Well, I don't think that's really an option, love. No one else can see me, or hear me," he said. "You're the only one that can tell me."

"I don't think that's such a good idea, I should-" she started, but another voice interrupted her.

"Hermione?" Mrs Weasley asked, stepping into the library. "Hermione, who were you talking to?" she asked with a frown, when she saw there was no one else in the room.

"I just-" she stammered, her gaze darting to Sirius for a moment.

"Don't tell her," he said.

"I was just thinking out loud," Hermione said, forcing a smile on her lips as she shrugged slightly.

Mrs Weasley looked at her for a few more moments, her eyes slightly narrowed in suspicion. "Why don't you go outside with the boys? You have spent entirely too much time inside the house lately, you need to get some fresh air, dear."

"They're playing Quidditch," she explained. "I don't really fancy flying."

"Well, you shouldn't stay here all on your own, it's not healthy."

"Why don't I help you in the kitchen, then," she suggested.

"If you're sure you wouldn't rather be outside," Mrs Weasley said, and she nodded. "All right, then. Come."

"Oh, you're not getting out if this so easily," Sirius said, following her out of the room.

She had thought going with Mrs Weasley, having more people around, would make it easier for her to ignore Sirius, to avoid answering his questions, at least until she'd had time to think what the best answer would be, but he wasn't so easily discouraged.

"How do you know who I am?" he insisted, just as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Shh," she hissed, gaining a few curious looks from the people inside the room. She just couldn't talk to him with everyone there, they'd think she had gone crazy, and for some reason she didn't think it'd be a good idea to tell them Sirius was there, at least not until she knew what was going on.

"You know my name, you seem to know a lot about me," he said, walking through whatever was on his way to follow her closely.

She concentrated on getting the dishes from an upper shelf and taking them to the table, doing her best to ignore the man walking next to her and talking practically into her ear.

"This is not the time," she whispered, looking away from everyone so they wouldn't see her lips move.

"You have to tell me what you know," he insisted, "I don't know who I am and you do; just tell me."

It was hard to ignore him when he kept following her every move so closely, when he kept talking so loudly and nonstop, demanding to know everything she knew about him. For the first few minutes, she managed to act as if he wasn't there well enough, but then the others tried to drag her into their conversation, and it became too much.

"Don't you agree, Hermione?" Kingsley asked, as she walked back to the table, balancing half a dozen glasses between her hands as she moved, and it was mostly the mention of her name that caught her attention.

"Huh?" She turned around, wondering what they were asking her about. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that."

"We were talking about what happened with your father," he explained. "I think they should amend the Statute of Secrecy to-"

"Are you going to tell me what you know or not?" Sirius asked loudly by her ear, drowning Kingsley's voice.

She shook her head and shut her eyes tightly, trying to focus on the Auror's voice and ignore Sirius.

"Hermione, what's wrong, dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked, worriedly.

"Nothing, nothing," she said, shaking her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "I'm sorry, Kingsley, what were you saying about the Statute?" she asked, carefully setting the glasses on the table and turning back to face Kingsley.

He looked at her for a moment, frowning slightly, but when continued. "I think it should be changed to exclude those who already know about us, basically Muggleborns' families. It doesn't make much sense to consider-"

"I can keep this up all day, you know?" Sirius said smugly, not as loud as before but loud enough that their voices mingled together and she couldn't understand what Kingsley was saying anymore. "I want you to tell me what you know about me, I want to know how you-"

"Stop," she cried, covering her ears with her hands and closing her eyes tightly. It was driving her crazy, the constant questioning, not being able to reply because of what the others would think. Sirius' voice sounded stronger, louder, in her head than anyone else's, and it was giving her the worse headache she had ever had. "Stop, just stop."

She felt hands on her shoulders, gently but firmly turning her around, and she opened her eyes to find Mrs. Weasley standing in front of her, looking worried. The woman's lips were moving, but she couldn't make out the words. After a few seconds, she felt the witch's hands on hers, pulling them down.

"Hermione, dear, what is going on?" she asked her, softly.

She looked around the room, noticing everyone had turned to her and were staring at her intently, seeming both worried and confused. Her gaze landed on Sirius, then. He was still next to her, comfortably leaning against the table, not looking the least bit regretful.

"Promise to tell me what you know and I'll stop," he said.

She hesitated for a second, then whispered, "Fine, I promise."

"What?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Nothing, I'm sorry," she said, with a small sigh.

"They'll need a better explanation than that for what just happened," Sirius said with a smirk. "You'll have to convince them you haven't gone completely bonkers."

"I know," she said, then cursed herself for having spoken to him again. No one else could see him, so as far as they were concerned, she was talking to herself. Trying to find a way to explain what had just happened, she blurted out the first excuse that came to mind.

"I'm sorry, I was working on a spell to improve my hearing, thought it could be useful for the Order, but it obviously went wrong," she said, deciding part truths would make the best lie. She really was, after all, working on that spell, it just was nowhere near ready yet. "Now I keep hearing this awful buzz inside my head," she said, throwing Sirius a quick glare.

"Gee, how nice of you," he said, his smirk never faltering.

"Maybe we should take you to a healer," Mrs. Weasley suggested, but she just shook her head.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, I'm sure it'll go away soon enough."

"Oh, I'm wounded," said Sirius, in mock hurt. "Just a few hours together and you want to get rid of me already?"

"You bet," she whispered.

"What?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Oh, nothing," she said, doing her best to ignore Sirius' laughter. "It seems the spell works for moments. I just heard Ron and Harry talking outside."

"Quick thinking," Sirius said, but Mrs. Weasley frowned.

"Are you quite sure you don't want to see a healer?"

Trying to hold back a tired sigh, she forced a small smile to her lips and said, "Yes, I'm fine, really."

"What spell did you use?" Kingsley asked.

"It was just a basic Hearing Spell I learnt at Hogwarts, but I made a few changes. I guess it needs more work," she said, with a small shrug.

"You shouldn't play with spells like that, dear, it could be dangerous," said Mrs. Weasley. "Why don't you go lie down for a few minutes? I'll have one of the boys call you when lunch is ready."

"No that's all right, I'm feeling-"

"You promised to tell me what you know. You can talk now, or I can start all over again," Sirius said, pushing away from the table and standing so close to her that his energy made her skin prickle.

"Actually," she said to the witch, taking a step away form Sirius, "I think that's a good idea."

"Well, off you go, then" Mrs. Weasley said, all but pushing her out of the kitchen.

"So?" Sirius asked, as soon as she was past the doorway.

"Not here," she whispered, quickly making her way to the stairs. "If they hear me talking to myself again, they'll have me committed to St Mungo's."

"St Mungo's? What's that?" he asked, following her closely.

"You don't remember that either?"

"I don't remember anything, I thought we'd gotten that clear."

"Right, of course. Well, St Mungo's is a hospital," she explained, opening the door to her bedroom and stepping inside. She held the door open for him, but he merely walked in through the wall, past her, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"How do you do that?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"You just walked through the door, and I've seen you walk through furniture and people, but now you're sitting on the bed."

"And your question is…?"

"If you walk through things, shouldn't you…I don't know, fall down through the bed?" she asked, and he laughed.

"That would be very impractical, now wouldn't it?"

"I mean it. If you don't have a body, then how can you sit on the bed?"

"I can move through anything, as you have seen, but I can also touch objects, if I concentrate enough. It took me a few days to stop falling through the floor, actually, and it wasn't a nice experience. The hotel room was on a third floor."

"So if you concentrate, can you touch people, too?"

He smirked at her, as if there was a different meaning to her question, but finally he answered, "I can only touch inanimate objects."

"Can you move things?"

"I'm not a ghost, I don't go around rattling chains and making things fly in hopes of scaring people," he said, rather briskly.

"Then what are you?"

"I…" he started, then hesitated. "I've tried to move things, but I haven't been able to so far. I don't think I have enough energy, or enough concentration, or whatever it is that you need to move something."

She looked at him for a moment, not sure what to say. She finally decided to tell him what she had promised to, and walked to the bed, sitting next to him.

"If you are who I think you are, then your name is Sirius Black."

"If I am who you think I am? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well," she said, turning to him, "you look like Sirius Black, and you mostly act like Sirius Black, but Sirius is dead, and I'm not sure what you are, so I…I guess I can't know for sure."

"But you think I am this Sirius Black."

"I do."

"Then I believe you," he said, as if that statement was enough to make it true, and she was surprised by the trust she saw in his eyes.

"All right. What do you want to know?"

"Everything you know."

"Well, let's see, your name is Sirius Black, like I said before, although your friends used to call you Padfoot."

"Why?"

"Because you were an Animagi, you could turn into a dog."

"How did you and I meet?"

"I…well, that's a little complicated, actually," she said, sitting sideways so she was facing him. "We met when I was fourteen. You broke into our school to help Harry."

"Harry knew me, too?" he asked, surprised.

"Of course he did, you were – you are," she corrected herself, "his godfather."

"Godfather," he repeated, too shocked to say anything else.

"Actually," she continued, after a few moments of silence, "almost everyone in the Order knew you. This is, after all, your house."

"This is my house?"

"Yes. It belonged to your family, 'The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black'," she said, with mock solemnity.

"You don't sound like you liked my family much."

"I didn't know them, but you didn't like them at all."

"Why not?"

"I'm probably not the right person to ask, Sirius. I didn't know you very well."

"But you're the only one I can ask, just tell me what you know."

"Well, you come from a Pureblood family, but you didn't think the same way they did. From what I know, you never liked the Dark Arts, and you were friends with people they didn't approve of."

"You said you didn't know me very well, why is that?"

"Well, I spent some time here with Harry, during holidays, and we talked a few times, but we didn't really get along all that well."

"Why not?"

"Mmm, how to explain this…" She took a deep breath and blurted, "I thought you were childish and irresponsible, and you thought I was an uptight, bossy, know-it-all." She looked at him as she spoke, and was surprised by his response to her words.

"Uptight, bossy, know-it-all?" he repeated, laughing. "I think I can imagine why I would say such a thing."

"For your information," she said in a huff, getting up, "I was just worried about Harry, and your careless attitude wasn't helping him. He needed a father figure, someone he could look up to. I wasn't worried about you liking me or not, I was worried about my friend."

"All right, all right, I'm sorry," he said, raising his hands in surrender, as he got up, standing in front of her. "And I can't imagine why I wouldn't like you, I like my women with character," he said, flashing her a roguish smile.

"I'm not your woman," she replied, trying to stay angry, but his charm seemed to work faster than she had expected. He merely nodded at her words and sat back down, patting the bed beside him and waiting for her to sit.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, after a few moments of silence.

"I'm just wondering why I'm the only one that can see you."

"You were the one that tried to break the magic around Harry, and then you used a spell to see me, right?"

"A Revealing Spell, yes, but…I felt you before any of that."

"What do you mean?"

"When I was leaving the kitchen earlier today, before I even knew about the Protection Spell, I felt you."

"Perhaps you are more sensitive to magic than the others are," he suggested, but she shook her head.

"I would have thought if someone would be able to sense you when no one else could, it would be Harry."

"Were we close?"

"He loved you, and you loved him, too," she said. "You were very important to him, even if you only had a few years together."

"Why only a few years?"

"Well, that's a really long story."

Before she could say anything else she heard the door creak open and saw Ron poke his head inside. She watched him look around the room for a moment, as if searching for something.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked.

"Talking? I wasn't talking to anyone."

"I heard you talking, Hermione."

"I was practicing a spell, I guess that's what you heard," she said, and hoped he would believe her.

"Mum asked me to come get you. Lunch is ready."

"I'll be there in a minute," she said, and waited until Ron left the room to turn to Sirius again. "Do you think I should tell someone about you? Maybe Harry?"

"No, I don't think so. We don't know why I'm here, or even for how long. I don't want anyone to know unless they have to; it will be easier for everyone that way."

"Then you better stop talking to me when there are people around."

"Why should I? It is too much fun," he said with a broad smile, following her out of the room.


	4. NightTime Visitor

Hermione was waiting in line to get on the enormous roller coaster. Her father was standing right next to her, and she knew her mother was somewhere near by. They were in an amusement park somewhere in France, though she couldn't remember the name of the place. Her parents had taken her there a few times on summer vacation, and she always made them get up before the sun even rose, so they would be the first to arrive.

As the line moved, she stepped forward and turned to look at her father. He looked so tall, or perhaps it was her that was so small. She looked down at her hands curiously, and saw they were a child's hands. But of course they were, she was only nine, after all.

Her father was smiling at her, and she smiled back. There were only a handful of people ahead of them now; she'd be on the roller coaster in a few minutes.

"Are you feeling all right?" her father suddenly asked.

Hermione wondered why he would ask that, but then she felt the small beads of sweat forming on her forehead. It was so hot. She looked up at the sky, narrowing her eyes as she watched the sun. It was shining so brightly, and the air was so hot.

But something was wrong. It was as if the heat was focused solely on her head. The sensation came and went; it felt as if someone was fanning her, but she was getting heat instead of cool air. Not only that; along with the heat came a faint prickling on her skin, not quite an itch, more like a soft tickle.

It was taking her brain longer than usual to add the sensations up, but they were strangely familiar; she knew she had felt them before.

Then a voice reached her ears, although she had no idea where it was coming from. The voice was repeating her name over and over and over, but it didn't sound urgent or worried, it sounded almost…bored.

"What?" she whispered in response, as the world began dissolving around her. She blinked and tried to focus on what she was seeing now, but it took her eyes a few seconds to adjust to the sudden darkness.

"Well, it was about time," the same voice she had heard calling her name said, and she barely managed to hold back a frightened yelp as she jumped for her wand. "Hey, easy there," came next, as she aimed the wand at where she thought the voice was coming from.

For some reason, she decided to hold the attack back, at least for a few moments, and opted to mutter, "Lumos," instead.

Sirius was standing a few feet from the bed, hands held up in surrender and the hint of a smile on his lips.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with a groan, lying back on the bed again, using her arm to shield her eyes from the now bright light.

Lowering his hands, Sirius stepped back towards the bed and sat down facing her. "I'm bored."

"I was sleeping!"

"Oh, trust me love, I noticed," he said with a smirk. "It would seem you can't hear me when you're asleep."

"Then how did you wake me?" she asked.

Instead of answering, he leaned towards her, stretched out his arm and started waving his hand through her head.

She tried to bat his arm away, but of course that was hard to do without being able to touch him. "Stop that, you're giving me a headache," she grumbled, leaning as far away from him as she could so he wouldn't reach her head.

"Sorry," Sirius said, not sounding apologetic at all, as he sat straight again. "But you deserve it, you know? I've spent the last half hour trying to wake you. You looked happy, though," he added, as an afterthought. "What were you dreaming of?"

"It was a great dream, actually," she said with a smile, when she saw him wiggle his eyebrows suggestively. "Ron and Harry had returned, and you weren't with them."

Sirius gave her wide eyes as he moved his hands to his chest, splaying them over his heart. "Ouch, you wound me, woman," he said, but even his hurt tone and expression couldn't belie the twinkle in his eyes.

"I am so, very sorry, Sirius," she said, trying to hold back a smile. She was supposed to be angry at him, he had, after all, walked into her bedroom and woken her up for no good reason. She couldn't let him charm that fact away. "What was so important that you had to spend thirty of your utterly valuable minutes trying to wake me up?"

"I already told you, I'm bored," he said, as if it was so obvious she shouldn't need to ask.

"You're bored," she said, and he nodded. "So you thought you'd come into my room, uninvited, I might add, and wake me up to share that fact?"

Sirius rolled his eyes at her and leaned back, resting on his elbows. His arm went through her foot, and she moved her leg back, so that she was sitting up against the headboard, her feet away from him.

"I didn't wake you up to tell you I was bored," he said. "I did it _because_ I was bored. I thought I'd keep you company."

"I was sleeping!"

"We've already established that," he replied, his smile widening.

"Merlin, Sirius, don't you sleep?" she asked, and he shook his head no. "Ever?" Another shake. "Well, can't you go read a book, or the Daily Prophet?"

There it was, that roll of eyes again. He was starting to make her feel stupid with that attitude. "It's hard to read a book or a newspaper when you can't open it, or turn its pages."

"What did you do when you were away with Ron and Harry?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Got bored," he replied, with a shrug.

"Well, can't you be bored for another night? Just go over to their room and wait until they wake up."

"Merlin, anything but that. I swear to you, if I have to go through another night of hearing Ron's snores I will go crazy. I tried to count how many times he snored one night, to keep myself entertained, but I gave up after reaching five thousand," he said, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"I remember when we used to spend part of our holidays at the Burrow. Every time he snored, you could feel the entire house shake. It's a wonder Harry could sleep in the same room with him for years. What?" she asked, when he started laughing.

"What makes you think he slept through the snoring?" Sirius asked, then explained when he saw her frown in confusion. "He uses a modified Silencing Charm. He waits until Ron falls asleep and then casts the Charm so that he can't hear the snores. It only blocks the snoring out, though; it would be dangerous if he blocked every sound while he was asleep."

"He did? How do you know?"

"I spent a lot of time with them, remember? I saw him cast it every night. When I first got here they couldn't do any magic, though. The poor lad didn't get a full hour's sleep at night; he looked like a walking zombie. I'm sure the thought of killing Ron crossed his mind more than once, but instead he resorted to slipping small stones under the thin mattress so Ron wouldn't sleep so much and throw small things at him when he started snoring to wake him back up, getting the little sleep he could during the time it took Ron to start snoring again.

"I should probably feel sorry for Harry, but he deserves it for not telling me about the modified charm. I can't believe I didn't think of it. I normally used the regular brand of Silencing Charms on the entire bedroom when I shared it with Ginny, but then we couldn't even hear people knocking on the door, so we finally resorted to Muggle earplugs."

"Ginny, that's the other read-head, right? The girl that was in the kitchen this morning."

"Yes, she's Ron's younger sister. I keep forgetting you don't remember any of us."

"It seems there's entirely too many of you to remember," he said, with a small smile. "You seem to be very close to Ron and Harry."

"I am. We've been best friends ever since our first year at Hogwarts, minus a few fights now and then."

"So why didn't you go with them, why did you stay here?"

"Well, we were supposed to go together, the three of us, in search of the Horcruxes," she said, wrapping her arms around her knees, sleep completely forgotten as she talked to Sirius, "but we found out my dad was sick a few days before we were supposed to leave."

He surprised her with the interested tone in his voice when he asked, "Is he all right?"

"He is, now," she answered, "but when he got sick…the Muggle doctors we took him to said there was nothing they could do for him. They didn't know what was wrong with him, but they said he only had a few weeks left, a month if he was lucky."

"But you said he was all right."

"Well, when I heard the doctors couldn't do anything for him I thought perhaps healers could, but since he is not a wizard we couldn't get him into St Mungo's. That's why I stayed behind, I had to find a way to help my dad. It took a lot of time, and I had to take it all the way to the Minister for Magic, but I was lucky we have so many Order members holding important positions inside the Ministry; if they hadn't helped me…"

"If your parents aren't wizards, then they're not part of the Order, right? That's why they aren't here."

"Right," she said, not sure where he was going with this.

With a thoughtful expression on his face, Sirius turned around and sat against the headboard, next to her. "I assume the redheaded witch that was in the kitchen fixing breakfast when we arrived and the redheaded wizard that came to the meeting are Ron's parents," he said, and she nodded. "So what about Harry's parents? Where are they?"

She hesitated for a second before saying, "They died."

"How?"

"They were both killed during the first war."

"You told me I was Harry's godfather, right?" he asked, and she nodded again. "So I must've been close to them."

"I don't know much about your relationship with his mom, but his father was your best friend. From what I've heard, you were quite a pair, always getting into trouble."

Sirius was silent for a few moments, and she could see sadness cross his face, even though he didn't remember James or Lily.

"So, what other interesting adventures did I miss by staying here?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well," he said, looking thoughtful, "there was that night when they got drunk and hired that stripper.

"They what?" she asked, and he burst out laughing at her gobsmacked expression. "Very funny," she said, trying to punch his shoulder and hitting the headboard instead. "Ouch," she mumbled, scowling when his laughter got louder. "Not funny."

"Oh, yes, it is." Sirius was still howling with laughter when he suddenly fell through the bed, catching himself right before going through the bedroom floor so that only the top of his head was visible over the mattress.

"Now that's funny," she laughed, as she watched him curse and try to climb his way up to the bed.

"Told you that's what happened when I lost focus," he said watching her laugh, a small smile touching his lips as he sat back down beside her.

"That's not so…" she started, but just then the bedroom door opened and Harry stepped inside.

"Hasn't he learnt how to knock," Sirius said, leaning back against the headboard. "Could've walked in on you on a much more compromising situation."

Before she could reply to his comment Harry spoke. "Are you all right?" he asked her, and she noticed he had his wand gripped firmly by his side.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, but he didn't seem to be paying her much attention; his eyes were searching the room, looking for someone or something.

After a few seconds, he spoke again. "Who were you talking to?"

"I wasn't talking to anyone," she said, but Harry's attention was back on their surroundings, his gaze searching the room again. It was obvious he didn't believe her.

"I heard you talking from the hallway, Hermione."

"So what, you thought you'd storm in and see what was going on?"

He took a step forward and tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing as he watched her. "You've been acting strange all day."

"Strange?" Sirius said. "What is he on about? It's not as if you've been talking to yourself all day, and got caught laughing your heart out in an empty room."

She turned to Sirius for a second with a scowl, pressing a finger to her lips to tell him to keep silent.

"See? That's what I mean," Harry said, as she turned back to him. "What was that about?"

She wondered if perhaps she should just tell him the truth, tell him she wasn't going crazy, that she had been talking to the ghost of his dead godfather, but before she could even open her mouth to speak Sirius stopped her, as if he knew what she was thinking.

"You can't tell him."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Harry started going over all the strange thing she had done since they'd gotten back, but it wasn't him she had asked the question to.

"We don't know why I'm here," Sirius said, getting up and standing between her and Harry. "We don't even know for how long I will be here. If Harry and I were as close as you said, do you think knowing I'm here only to have me vanish when least expected will do him any good?"

"I…I don't know."

"You don't know what?" Harry asked.

"If I'm only here temporarily, he doesn't need to know, and if I'm here to stay, we can tell him later."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Please," he said, and she wasn't sure what it was that she saw in his expression, but it was enough to convince her to keep it between them. He had the right to choose for himself, after all.

"Hermione, you're scaring me," Harry said, walking right through Sirius and grabbing her by the shoulders. "What is going on?"

"I…"

"Tell him it's because of the spell," Sirius said, from somewhere behind Harry.

"What do-"

"Tell him the spell you cast on him earlier affected you."

"Hermione?" Harry asked.

"It's just…I think it has to do with the spell I used on you," she finally said. "I've been a little disoriented ever since."

"Mrs Weasley said something about you using a spell to improve your hearing."

"Yes, I guess it mixed somehow with the spell I used to see what the protection around you was, but I'm sure the effects will fade soon," she said, trying her best to sound reassuring. "It's actually better now than it was this morning."

"Perhaps we should take you to St Mungo's, have a healer see you."

"Nonsense," she said, moving Harry's hands away from her shoulders. "I just need to get some sleep, that's all."

"Perhaps you shouldn't stay here alone, if you're not-"

"Harry, I'm fine," she said, gently but firmly pushing him to the door. "I need some rest, that's all. We'll discuss this tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"Goodnight, Harry," she said, then closed the door. "Well, that-"

"Wait," Sirius interrupted, walking to the door. He leaned forward and poked his head out through the door. After a few moments, he stepped away from the door and turned to her. "He was still standing by the door, but he's gone now."

"What was he doing out there?"

"Probably wondering whether he should believe you or not. Do you think your explanation will be enough?"

"If I stop acting like a crazy person, then perhaps. I just wish you'd let me tell him what's happening. I hate keeping secrets from him."

"There's no need for him to know about me."

"Perhaps he could help us find out what's going on."

"Well, you and I will have to do, love."

* * *

Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, and for the great reviews, you know I love them!! Updates may take a little longer than usual for this story, the 'Hermione Big Bang' is keeping me busy ;) But I'll try to update soon.


	5. Sirius gawking

Four days had passed since Ron and Harry had returned from the Horcrux hunt. Four days she had spent perfecting her Sirius-ignoring skills, four days he had spent thinking up clever and annoying ways to try to make her acknowledge him in a room full of people.

She had spent most of her time going over the books they had about Dark Arts, trying to find any bit of information she might have missed before related to Horcruxes and, surprisingly, Sirius had spent almost as much time on it, sitting next to her and helping with the research. He couldn't touch the books, or turn the pages, so every time they were alone she would open a book for him and turn the pages with a twirl of her wand whenever he finished reading one.

That very morning, about two hours after she had fallen asleep –after yet another night of conversation with Sirius- Ron had barged into her room to tell her Kingsley was there with the book he'd promised to bring over.

She had thanked Kingsley for the book, glad she finally had something new to read, something focused on the subject she needed, and then locked herself in the library, unable to waste a single minute.

Hours later she was still there, in the library, with the book Kingsley had brought open on her lap and Sirius sitting beside her, although the excitement had turned to disappointment when it became clear the book didn't hold as much information as she had first hoped. They were both so focused on the book, however, on the little facts it provided as they tried to find something useful, that neither noticed Ron and Harry walking into the room until they plunged on either side of her on the couch, Harry sitting right through Sirius.

"Well, isn't this nice," he huffed, getting up and walking to an empty chair a few feet from them. No matter how many times it happened, or the fact that he didn't feel anything –or so he'd said- Sirius still hated people sitting where he was.

Without a word, Harry took the book from her hands, closed it, and dropped it on the coffee table in front of them. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"You've been reading that book since Kingsley brought it," Harry said, batting her hands away when she tried to get it back.

"So?"

"So," Ron said, in that condescending tone he used when talking to first years at Hogwarts, "that was almost nine hours ago. You even skipped lunch."

"Nine hours?" Sirius asked, stretching his arms over his head, "no wonder I feel so stiff."

She barely caught herself before she shushed him, opted for a half-hidden glare, and focused on the other two wizards in the room.

"Unlike you, Ronald, some people can go a few hours without stuffing their mouths with food."

Without giving either of them time to speak, she stood up and turned around, towering over them with a glare. Even Sirius seemed to have been rendered speechless by her sudden reaction. It was good to know there actually was a way to keep him quiet.

"And in case you two have forgotten," she continued, "this book that's been keeping me from important things, such as _food_, has information on Horcruxes, information that could help us understand their magic, maybe even give us a way to track them down and destroy them. Since it seems I'm the only one here willing to go over it, you two might as well leave me to it and go back to playing Quidditch. _That _is sure to help us defeat Voldemort."

With that, she turned around, took the book back and stormed out of the library, ignoring Sirius' bark of laughter and Ron's, "What's got her knickers in a twist?"

She fumed all the way up the stairs, going straight to her bedroom and banging the door behind her, then locking it with every spell she could think of, least Ron or Harry would risk being cursed into oblivion by going after her. She just wanted to be left alone, was that so hard to understand?

"That's some impressive temper you have there, love," she heard Sirius said, and responded with a groan as she turned around to where the voice had come from.

"What are you doing here?"

Sirius leaned back against the door, arms crossed over his chest and a teasing smile on his lips. "Thought you could use the company."

"If I wanted company I wouldn't have locked the door," she said, walking to the small window and looking down at the busy street, promising herself to find a spell or ward that would keep him out of the room, too. He was, after all, the real reason why she was so on edge, always teasing her, trying to catch her attention with other people in the room. For someone who had so adamantly asked her not to tell anyone she could see him, it seemed rather strange how he wouldn't waste any opportunity to make others notice she was acting crazy.

"Now, no need to bite my head off, love, I come in peace," he said, doing his best to look innocent when she turned to glare at him.

She took a deep breath, trying to control her anger before speaking again. "This is all your fault, you know?" He raised an eyebrow in question, as if he didn't know what she meant. He knew damn well, the bastard.

"If I remember correctly, we were getting along just dandy before they arrived, I don't see how I had anything to do with you being angry with them. In fact," he said, walking to the bed and sitting on the edge, "I think what you said to them had been on your mind for some time, now."

"I…" Well, he was probably right, but she wasn't about to admit that, now was she? She had never taken Sirius for someone with the least amount of insight; the more she got to know him, the more surprised she was at what she found. "I shouldn't have yelled at them like that," she finally said, walking to the bed and sitting next to Sirius, but making sure she was far enough not to feel his energy on her skin. "It's always like this, they go have fun, relax, and leave me to take care of the research, the planning... It's become their default behaviour, they assume I will do it, take it for granted. They wait until I go over it all, then jump in when it's ready."

Sirius leaned back so he was resting on his elbows, head turned her way as he waited silently for her to continue. Part of her wanted him to change the subject, to make a joke, lighten the mood, but the other part wanted to get it out, and if it was Sirius the one she was saying it to, then so be it.

"I don't even know why I'm complaining," she said with a sad laugh. "Merlin knows they're both hopeless at research, I'm probably better off doing it on my own."

"Now that I can believe," he said, and his smile brought one of her own.

"Still, it's not about to change; I just wish they'd leave me to it instead of trying to look over me, to decide when I need a break."

"Well, even at risk of drawing your anger my way, and trust me when I say that's not something I'd risk lightly, you can be bloody scary, I have to agree with them on this one; perhaps you do need a break."

"I don't," she said, feeling her temper quickly coming back. "What I need is to find a way to get those last two Horcruxes and destroy them."

"Well, love, in case you have forgotten, we went over that book twice already, and there's nothing there that would help us do it."

"Then I'll contact Kingsley, ask him to bring-" she started, but a soft knock on the door interrupted her. "This better not be Harry or Ron, or I swear…" she muttered, as she got up and walked to the door.

"Hermione?"

It was Ginny's voice that came from the other side, and Hermione lifted the spells locking the door to let her in, wondering what she could want.

"Who were you talking to?" was the first thing the witch asked, as soon as she saw they were alone in the bedroom, and Hermione barely managed to hold back a groan. She was getting tired of hearing that question.

"No one," she said, as she closed the door again. "Just thinking out loud."

"Oh," Ginny muttered hesitantly. "Is everything all right?"

Well, that was another question she was getting tired of. "Sure, why?"

"I just talked to Ron and Harry, they're worried about you."

"Of course they are," she whispered, turning around and heading back to the bed.

"If you want to talk to someone, you know I'm here, don't you?"

"I think she's got plenty of people to talk to as it is," Sirius laughed.

"So true," she whispered, then said, "I know," loud enough for Ginny to hear. "I'm all right, I promise, I'm just tired."

"Well, actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

The sudden smile on Ginny's lips made her narrow her eyes in suspicion. It was entirely too similar to the one the twins wore when they were up to something.

It took but a second for Ginny to catch up on what she was thinking, and then she did her best to look innocent. "Now don't look at me like that!" she said, as she walked to the bed and sat next to her, Sirius quickly crawling backwards so she wouldn't sit on him. Or would that be _through_ him?

"Bloody people, never watching where they sit," he muttered as he sat back against the headboard.

"Then don't smile at me that way," she said to Ginny. "You looked entirely too pleased with yourself, nothing good can come from that."

Ginny waved her hand in the air, dismissing her comment as she turned just enough to face her. "You said you were tired, Hermione. You have been working on your research non-stop for days now, and you need a break."

"Oh, no, not you too. I don't need a break, I just-"

"Hush now, no interrupting," she said, to Sirius' apparent amusement. "So, as I was saying," she continued, ignoring Hermione's scowl, "you need a break, so we're going out tonight. Well, sneaking out, really."

She opened her mouth to refuse, but Ginny lifted her hand to stop her before she could utter a sound, a stern expression replacing the smile on her face.

"Oh, I like this one!" Sirius said, but she ignored his comment and his laughter as Ginny continued to speak. She was getting much better at ignoring him, she decided.

"Hermione, you have done little but research for months now. You haven't left this house since your dad got sick other than to see him. You need a break."

"Well, I have to agree with the bird here, you look ready to explode, wild eyes, wild hair…"

Turning back to glare at Sirius she hissed, "Nobody asked for your opinion," then silently cursed herself for letting him rile her up. She looked at Ginny, and realised the witch probably thought she had been talking to her. "I'm sorry, maybe I do need a little time off," she said, with a small smile.

"Now don't get me wrong," Sirius said, his voice carrying over her own, as he reached forward, his hand going to her hair, and she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to stop her body from shivering at the sensation, "I love the wild curls, love, I was just saying…"

"See?" Ginny muttered, bringing Hermione's attention back to her as she slid further to the edge of the bed, away from Sirius. "One minute we're talking calmly, the next you are glaring and snapping angrily at me. You never acted like this before, Hermione. I really think you need to get out and have some fun, maybe you'll meet someone. Oh, don't roll your eyes at me, witch, I can't remember the last time I saw you notice a wizard at all. In fact," she continued thoughtfully, "in all the years I've known you I've only ever caught you staring at one wizard. Then again, he was worth the stare. I don't think there was a witch on the planet that could keep her eyes off Sirius Black."

Hermione knew her eyes were wide open and her lips parted in disbelief at what Ginny had just said, just as she knew her cheeks were as flushed as they could get.

"Now that's interesting," Sirius said, as he scooped closer to them, and even though she was purposefully looking away from him she knew there would be a smug smirk on his lips.

"I've never stared at Sirius Black," she said in a harsh whisper, feeling shivers run up her spine as Sirius moved close enough to let her feel his energy all over her skin. She wanted to move away from him, but if she stood up she would have to turn to face Ginny, and that would leave her face to face with him. No, having him sitting this close seemed like the better option, at the moment.

"Come on, Hermione, there's no need to be embarrassed! I know the two of you didn't get along, but there's no use in denying the obvious. You spent an entire summer drooling after him when you thought no one would notice."

"I do not _drool_ after anyone, Ginevra," she said, but her glare seemed to have no effect on the witch. In fact, she was still smirking, which pissed her almost as much as what she had just said.

"Now don't interrupt her, love," Sirius said, moving through her to the edge of the bed and standing. "I want to know what Red here has to say."

"Don't do that," she hissed, closing her eyes as she tried to control the shivers he'd caused.

"Do what?" Ginny asked. "I'm merely stating a fact. It has been entirely too long since you've left yourself have some fun; you're overdue."

"I'm not overdue for anything," she said firmly, scowling at the wicked smirk Ginny's last word had put on Sirius' lips. "Now if you don't mind, I have things I need to do before-"

"Hermione, please," Ginny said, grabbing her hand when she tried to stand and walk away.

"Ginny, just leave me-"

Before she could finish the sentence Ginny was speaking again. "All right, maybe I haven't been entirely honest with you," the witch said, with a pleading expression on her face. "I'm meeting Dean tonight, in a pub in Diagon Alley."

"Dean Thomas?" she asked, surprised, and Ginny nodded. "Dean Thomas from Hogwarts? The Dean Thomas you said you didn't want to ever see again after your last fight?"

Ginny let go of her hand and started fidgeting with her robes. "The thing is, it's not really a date or anything. He's going there with his friends, and I said I might see him there, but I can't go alone."

"I didn't know you two were seeing each other again."

"We're not, but after what happened with Harry…I'm moving on," she said, in a firm tone. "Now don't get me wrong, I meant what I said about you needing to relax, I just thought I'd kill two birds with the same stone, as they say."

"Don't let her get sidetracked, go back to the Sirius-gawking conversation," Sirius said, talking over Ginny as he leaned back against her desk, a fake pout on his lips.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" she asked Ginny, doing her best to ignore Sirius' comment and trying to fight what was left of the blush on her cheeks.

"I said," Sirius replied, walking closer to her, "to go back to talking about me."

"Shh," she said, trying to silence Sirius, then turned it into a "Shhhure," when she realised she was talking to him again. Then she remembered what she was agreeing on, and tried to find her way around it. "Sure," she repeated, "it makes sense, but I really don't feel like going out tonight, Ginny. I'm sorry. Maybe you could go with Luna instead?" she suggested. "You haven't gone out with her in weeks."

"Well, I don't-"

"You said it yourself, I need some rest, and going out probably isn't the best idea. I'm sure you and Luna will have a great time, and it's Dean you want to see after all, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, but…"

Sirius was still talking, and she was sure he was saying something annoying, but she did her best to focus on Ginny as she promised her she would join her the next time, and tried to get the girl to leave as politely as she could.

"So, drooling over me, huh?" Sirius said, the second the door was closed, and she took a deep breath before turning to face him again. "Can't say I'm surprised," he said, with a small smirk, as he looked down at himself.

"Stop it," she hissed, as she leaned back against the door, torn between embarrassment, anger, and amusement at his comment.

"Don't spoil my fun, love. I like knowing you spent an entire summer staring at me. I certainly wouldn't mind you sharing some of the naughty thoughts I bet you had while gawking," he said with a wink, as he moved closer to her.

"All right, this is enough," she said, lifting her hand to try to stop him getting too close. He stopped in front of her, his chest almost against her hand, making her entire arm prickle with his energy. "We need to set some ground rules." He lifted an eyebrow in question, but for once remained silent. "I understand I'm the only person here who can see and hear you, but this is driving me crazy. I don't want to start searching for a spell that will stop me from hearing you, and I don't think you want that either, so we'll have to reach an arrangement."

"What do you propose?" he asked, leaning slightly closer to her until she could feel the warm energy all over her body. She switched her weight from one foot to the other, wanting to duck away from him but refusing to show him the effect his nearness had on her. He was already smug enough about what he had just heard.

"You have to stop talking to me when someone else does, trying to get me to say something to you in front of others. It's been four days, and they're beginning to think I've really gone crazy."

"You're taking all my fun away," he said, with a pout.

"And no more sneaking into my bedroom in the middle of the night to wake me up because you're bored."

"Then what do you propose I do when you're sleeping?"

"Go back to counting Ron's snores, go for a walk, I don't know. I need to sleep."

"I'll see what I can do. Is that all?" he asked, in a resigned tone.

"No, there's one more thing," she said. "No more sitting on the ground when I'm sitting on the sofa and wearing a dress, trying to catch a glimpse of my knickers to then tease me about them for the entire afternoon, or we're going to have a problem."

He laughed then, that loud bark of laughter she had become accustomed to in the last few days, as he said, "That, love, I cannot promise. Black lace is so tempting."


End file.
